Monday, Oct. 21, 1996

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

President Clinton is still reminding his staff about Greg Norman, the golfer who blew a six-shot lead to lose the Masters. But with the President's future looking more and more secure, his aides are naturally contemplating their own. A little earlier than usual, Washington is playing the quadrennial board game: Who Gets the Plum Jobs Next January?

Bob Dole, for one, is almost prepared to say. In an attempt to spice up his campaign, he is thinking about announcing which celebrities he would put in his Administration (without matching names to jobs); they include Colin Powell, former Secretary of State Jim Baker, Virtuecrat William Bennett and former commodity-futures regulator Wendy Gramm.

Clinton hasn't begun to make up his mind about who should surround him next term and has made clear, according to spokesman Mike McCurry, that any pre-November jockeying would be "the height of bad form." But Homo politicus being what he is, the Beltway is already buzzing with gossip about likely departures and arrivals. A sampler of the best speculation: